


If There's Something Strange...

by eringaybert



Category: Ghostbusters (2016), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/F, More characters and tags to come, Slow Burn Erin Gilbert/Jillian Holtzmann, Stranger Things AU, kind of spoilery for Stranger Things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 06:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7673602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eringaybert/pseuds/eringaybert
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A re-imagining of Ghostbusters.<br/>Watching Stranger Things isn't required, but it makes the story (and you) cooler.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If There's Something Strange...

‘ _Well, well, well. If it isn’t the Ghost Girl! Figured your parents had finally sent you to the loony bin for good,’ the smug boy turned to his two henchmen behind him, if you could call them henchmen. One resembled a younger and chubbier Danny DeVito while the other may have been the absolute dumbest person Erin had ever had the chance to meet._

 

_Erin tried to push past them towards the school building and was bumped back so hard she lost her footing. Her books flew out of her arms, and she felt an awkward pain in the wrist that broke most of her fall._

 

_"Wow, Ghost Girl. I guess you’re falling for me, huh?" the leader made kiss noises while Mini Danny DeVito laughed so hard he cried. The other one laughed too, but it was delayed._

 

_Erin’s cheeks turned exceptionally red with both anger and embarrassment. It seemed that this year would be just the same as all the others. She tried blinking back the tears prickling her eyes. Her choice to look away nearly caused her to miss what came next._

 

_"Hey! Leave her alone, you punk!" Erin’s head snapped up just as a girl she’d never seen before pushed the bully back about three feet. Then the girl actually spit at the henchmen. The three guys were too shocked to even fight back, and the sound of the bell gave them an excuse to walk away rather briskly, mumbling insults along the way._

 

_Erin sat wide-eyed on the ground. The unfamiliar girl was practically glowing, and Erin couldn’t keep her eyes off of her. Her hero turned around and offered her a hand._

 

_“Hi, I’m Abby. Brand new here, but can’t say I like it much,” she was smiling so sweetly at Erin that all memory of the bully was gone for now. Erin took Abby’s hand with her own uninjured one to hoist her body up._

 

_“I’m Erin, and yeah, join the club.” And she did._

 

Erin Gilbert wanted to scream into the water streaming from the shower head. Of course, it wouldn’t actually be an important day for her if her brain didn’t attempt to derail all concentration with a painful memory at least once.

 

She was up for tenure. Finally, she would have job security. Life security, basically. Her parents might even be proud for once. No more ‘Ghost Girl,’ only Dr. Erin Gilbert the tenured professor at Columbia. She would even be able to truly afford a cat, and who needs a marriage when you have a cat? She spent the rest of her morning blocking other memories with thoughts about her future cat.

 

Columbia University was filled with quiet, promising students. She was going to have approximately two hundred of said students in her extremely important lecture today, so she arrived nearly two hours early to prepare.

 

Perhaps it was the squeaking of the marker on the whiteboard (she had really written a whole lot), or maybe the sound of her own voice going over her lecture twice already. Whatever it was, something was loud enough to completely block out the sound of a person entering the lecture hall far too early.

 

Erin was trying to loosen up her nerves, because, oh boy, she had many. Her body was like that of a professionally diagnosed, anxiety-filled cat living in a dog shelter. Assuming she was still alone, Erin bent over on her desk and started shaking her hips as if dancing to her own beat.

 

“Come here often?” came a sultry voice much too close to Erin and her swinging hips.

 

Her body betrayed her, and she somehow ended up on the ground and looking up at the odd stranger who was grinning ear to ear.

 

“You seem a bit tense. I’d suggest Pilates rather than whatever that masterpiece was.”

 

Erin couldn’t even form words. Her mouth opened and closed an embarrassing amount of times. There is no way this woman could be a student at Columbia. She was insanely dressed, from her oversized jacket covering what appears to be a crop top under overalls to her wild and unruly blonde hair. Even her yellow tinted glasses gave off a very Dr. Frankenstein look.

 

“Dr. Jillian Holtzmann,” she reached her hand down to take Erin’s. “You can call me Holtz if ya like.”

 

The parallelism to her previously relived memory was not lost on Erin, but she chose to fully ignore it. She seemed to regain some composure once she was on two feet again.

 

Erin cleared her throat, “I’m sorry Dr. … Holtz? The lecture doesn’t start for another hour-“

 

“Oh, sorry, not here for that. I heard practice round though, and you did marvelously, darling,” Holtz winked at Erin, grinning even wider when Erin’s cheeks involuntarily flushed, “but I’m here for something else entirely.”

 

Holtz’s previously manic smile turned into a slight grimace, and she pulled out a raggedy book from one of her huge pockets. Erin squinted at the book and recognized it almost immediately.

 

“H-how did you get that? I thought I burned both copies!” Erin said. Her head started spinning, and she felt a panic attack brewing in the distance. If anything in that book with her name attached got to the Dean, her chances of tenure would vanish.

 

“So you are _the_ Erin Gilbert,” the corners of Holtz’s mouth turned back up ever so slightly.

 

“Uhm...yes…wait, no. I’m…no, not that Erin. Where did you get this?” She was getting angry now, and her anxiety was peaking at dangerous levels. “And why are you here?”

 

“I’m afraid I’m in dire need of assistance with certain theoretical physics-y elements in your book. Specifically, your work on the existence of the dubbed ‘upside down’ dimension.”

 

Okay, time to shut this down right now. “Look, I don’t know where you got this, and I don’t even want to know what you’re planning on doing, but nothing in that book is legitimate science. It’s a joke book, honestly,” Erin’s voice was rushed, and she forced a smile at Holtzmann. This is quite possibly the worst thing that could happen to Erin right now.

 

The lights in the lecture hall flickered twice as Holtz slammed the book face down on the desk behind Erin. This sudden movement caused her rolled up sleeve to slide up just a few inches, and Erin noticed a very small and crude tattoo on her forearm. She didn’t get a chance to look at it long because Holtz yanked her sleeve back down, covering up what Erin thought was a number. Embarrassed, her eyes shot to the plague of a book instead, but that too was a mistake. Abby’s face on the back cover was staring accusingly right back at her.

 

Holtz didn’t seem angry at Erin as much as edgy and impatient. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as if she were about to give a public speech. Erin stared silently at her, genuinely terrified of what could come next. Holtzmann’s next words were forced and choppy and full of emotion, very unlike her suave lines from earlier. 

 

“Abby Yates is missing, and I believe sh-she is trapped…there...in the upside down dimension.”

 

Erin’s stomach sank, and her breath hitched in her throat. Goodbye, tenure.

 

**Author's Note:**

> "Whaaaaaaat?"  
> Hey guys! I had an idea for a Stranger Things AU of Ghostbusters and decided to try my hand at fanfiction again. I haven't written any in about six years :/  
> I have about 60% of this story planned out, but I do not have any other chapters actually written yet (other than a scene that takes place before this featuring sweet little Garrett the tour guide) because I didn't know if there would be an interest for something like this. I struggled a bit with the formatting here, so I hope it looks okay. Anyway, let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!!


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